Babies and Journalists (Update from Venezuela)

Hello - As Jesus was heading to the cross, the evangelist Luke reports that a lot of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him... Luke then reports that at that moment, 'Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”' (Luke 23:27-31). ... As many countries in the (Western) world are watching their birthrates fall, I wonder if this is one of those prophecies that is starting to come true? ...According to this graph from Visual Capitalist:

Venezuela seemes to have exactly the right birth replacement rate to keep the population as is (excluding, of course, the 25% displacement rate); but it is true that sometimes I think about everything that Venezuela has (and is) going through, and it's like - man, I know that people consider that stuff whenever they're thinking about having kids, so I could understand why the birthrate is falling... What's weird though, is that it isn't falling in Venezuela or in many other poor African nations, but it is rather, in some of the richest and healthiest ones! ...What Jesus was getting at however, as he approached the climax of his mission, is that if the world at that time had the privilege of hosting the very Lord of all Creation, and yet that's the way we treated him - the truest mourning and wailing will happen when God's judgement will come, and humanity itself will wish we didn't even exist. ...Notwithstanding, a passage that I always think about whenever disaster strikes is at the beginning of Luke 13, when Jesus clarifies that a couple specific tragedies that happened back in his day weren't a result of any specific people being any worse sinners than others (v.1-5)... Instead, maybe earthquakes and wars and economic depressions can serve as warning signs to make us repent; as we imagine a greater calamity to come... So what do we do in the meantime? Well, we share the good news (Matt 28:16-20, Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:44-49, John 20:19-23). And we also do good to all people, especially to those of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).

...So yesterday I spent about 5 hours trying to get permission to travel to the interior of Venezuela to help any way I could, but for now I was denied access... As I was waiting for my interview, it was certainly interesting to talk with journalists from Caracol and NPR, and realize that in many ways we share a similar profession (as essentially Alejandra and I are journalists of Jesus) - just like they report history as well... For now, I'm going to try to get a few things in order, and see if in about a week the Venezuelan authorities will re-evaluate my case. In the meantime, Alejandra's and my offer still stands for anyone reading this email, to stay at our apartment in San Cristobal for a few days, as you may want to join us in sharing the gospel or in doing good to all people (especially if you can find a way to get further into Venezuela than I can)...

Also, if you would like to help our church in Duitama (located in Boyaca, Colombia which is lot easier to get to), you are also welcome to spend a few nights in our apartment there, which is located directly below our meeting room

The point is that journalists in general just want to get the story out there, and however we can help each other accomplish that - we should! (let's just make sure we get the story straight)... I for one, know from experience all around the world, that whenever Christians open up their home for me to lay my head, it really means a lot.

-Sam Killins Missionary Profile: ---------------------------------------- Very few passages talk about how God is a midwife who opens the womb (Isaiah 66:7-9) or how God is like a mother who nurses her children who are looking to be comforted (Isaiah 66:13; 49:15). Doulos (doula) means servant or slave in Greek, and when we're talking about brothers and sisters in the faith, I was so happy to accompany them to go through one of the most important transitions in life. To Lina, David, and Emet (a girl), it was a privilege to give them the best of me for a couple of months, making an extensive accompaniment a couple weeks before and after the birth of their baby girl. On the day of the labor, I spent the night going back and forth from their house to mine to be able to attend the needs of my own family and also theirs. With a wonderful work team, they prepared themselves for months to be able to receive their baby at home, and by the grace of God, everything was a success. This is just a very little example of how we can serve our family in Christ, even more on the areas where we are new. We can always point others to Jesus.

-Alejandra Killins Missionary Profile: -------------------------------------- Recently I've been talking with my friend and colleague Juan Carlos Corredor to see if the name of the church that Alejandra and our friends and I want to start in San Cristobal, Venezuela could be called Levantemonos y Edifiquemos (Rise Up and Build)...

...While 3 of the churches Alejandra and a bunch of other friends and I started in Colombia are called Refugio (Refuge), the name of our close allies Levantemonos y Edifiquemos has a more appropriate connotation for what the Lord has laid on our hearts to accomplish in Venezuela... The name "Refuge" carries a connotation of being a place where sinners can run to and find protection (think: the cities of refuge in Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua where someone who committed involuntary manslaughter could run and find refuge in until the high priest died); and we also liked the idea and fact that many Venezuelan immigrants were finding their way into our churches in which they were welcomed and valued and cared for... At this time in Venezuela though, definitely the idea of building up and edifying a Christ honoring church within the rubble, is the job we have before us (think: Nehemiah). -Sam Killins Missionary Profile: